Direct current (DC) electrical distribution systems are used for various applications such as, for example, aircraft power supply systems, electric ships, renewable energy collection grids, micro-grids, data center power supply systems, and other applications. DC distribution systems are often utilized to improve system efficiency and/or provide space and weight savings associated with the physical equipment used.
For DC distribution systems, it is often very challenging to achieve fast and reliable fault detection and location determination due to various factors such as, for example, a small circuit impedance and impacts of fault current limiting functions of converters. Differential protection, current direction, impedance protection, transient energy, and/or overcurrent methods may be used in various embodiments for short circuit protection in DC distribution systems. However, each of those methods has corresponding application features and functionality limitations. For example, differential protection and impedance protection methods may be suitable for DC distribution systems but may not be able to achieve speed and performance requirements.